John Vincent William Barry KC LLB (1903 - 1969)

Born 13 Jun 1903 in Albury, Victoria, Australia

Husband of Ethel May (Pryor) Barry — married 16 Aug 1930 in Mosman, New South Wales, Australia

Husband of Nancy Lorraine (Hudson) Barry — married 28 Jul 1951 in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia

Died 8 Nov 1969 at age 66 in Armadale, Victoria, Australia

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Biography

John Barry KC LLB is Notable.

Justice John Barry KC LLB was a judge of the Supreme Court of Victoria, and an expert in criminology. His biography can be found in the Australian Dictionary of Biography.

John Barry KC LLB was born in New South Wales, Australia

John Vincent Barry was born on 13th June 1903 in Albury, New South Wales, Australia. He was the eldest of the four children of William Barry, a house-painter of Irish descent, and Sarah Keene. ^[1] After completing his formal education ay St Patrick's College, Goulburn, new South Wales, John entered the University of Melbourne.

John was a Solicitor, Barrister and Judge

After graduating with a law degree in 1921 he was articled as a solicitor. In 1926 he was admitted to the Victorian Bar. ^[2]

John married Ethel Pryor oon 16th August 1930 at the district registrar's office, Mosman, in Sydney's northern suburbs. ^[3] The couple subsequently had a son and a daughter, however, sadly Ethel passed away in 1943:

• John Edward
• Joan (married David Hardy)

He was appointed King's Counsel (KC) in 1942 and was appointed to the Supreme Court of Victoria on 14th January 1947. ^[2]

John married a second time, to Nancy Hudson, a New Zealand-born dress designer fourteen years his junior, on 28th July 1951 at the office of the government statist, Melbourne. The couple subsequently had a daughter:

• Susan Jane

In the New Year Honours 1961 John was created Knight Bachelor in recognition of his service to the Supreme Court of Victoria. ^[4] Whilst he had been critical of others who accepted knighthoods, he rationalised his own acceptance of the honour as being the necessary consequence of 'having followed precedent'.

In 1966, he graduated from the University of Melbourne with a Bachelor of Law (LLB), after serving nearly twenty years in the Supreme Court. He was subsequently appointed senior Puisne Judge of the Supreme Court.

Aged 66 years, he passed away of cancer on 8th November 1969 in Armadale, Victoria. He was survived by Nancy and their daughter, as well as his son and daughter of his first marriage.

Although he rejected dogmatic religion because of his refusal to accept anything he found to be irrational, John always carried a St Christopher medal.

So valued were his contributions to criminology in the Victorian and Australian contexts that John's memory has been perpetuated by having a lecture (University of Melbourne) and a library (Institute of Criminology, Canberra) named after him.

Sources

1. ↑ New South Wales Birth Index #18693/1903
2. ↑ ^{2.0 2.1} Sir John Vincent William Barry: A Biographical Note; accessed 3 Mar 2024
3. ↑ New South Wales Marriage Index #11287/1930; registered at Mosman
4. ↑ Australian Honours: Knight Bachelor; accessed 3 Mar 2024

See also:

• Teague, Bernard. 'Barry, Sir John Vincent (1903–1969)', Australian Dictionary of Biography, National Centre of Biography, Australian National University, published first in hardcopy 1993; accessed online 3 Mar 2024.
• Wikipedia: John Vincent Barry; accessed 3 Mar 2024.